My Head Is an Animal
by Alliecat29
Summary: Natalie Garcia's been known to run from a lot of things. Her past, social confrontations, and now Hunters which are calling her a weird name. An "Elemental". Whatever it means, Natalie wants nothing to do with it until she meets Stiles Stilinski. Somehow this strangely attractive and awkward human gives her the courage to stand up for herself, the question is; will she do it? -S3-
1. Over My Head (Cable Car)

**A/N: Hey guys, so yeah...I got into Teen Wolf. I'm just digging myself a deeper grave here...yeah. Don't mind me. **

**Either way though, this idea wouldn't leave me alone and y'know...I kinda need something to take the pressure off of school. **

**But! Instead of wasting your time, I figure I should just get right to what you guys need to know;**

**This story starts in season three because that's my all-time favorite season, not to mention it leaves great openings.**

**Selena Gomez will be the faceclaim for Natalie**

**Sam Claflin will be Ryan**

**Cameron Boyce will be Elijah**

**Mia Hays will be Olivia**

**And Ty Olsson will be Will aka "Dad" **

**Yes, this will be a Stiles/OC story because I can't get enough of the man that is Dylan O'Brien. **

**And last but not least, this story will have a Polyvore collection, you can find the link to it on my bio page. **

**I think that's all I can think of, so I'll leave you guys to it. See you at the bottom!**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing recognized as Teen Wolf material other than my list of OC's. **

* * *

><p><strong>Natalie<br>**_Over my Head (Cable Car) – The Fray_

A thin layer of sweat coated her skin as she finished pushing Elijah's bed against the wall, the black wood working well with the dark blue walls and light carpeting, his gray sheets ruffled slightly on his bed from the night before.

Natalie took a few steps back, her phone shoved in her sports bra playing music loudly as her younger brother is putting his clothes away in his dresser across the room. ("Putting away" being a very loose term considering he just rumples them up and shoves them in his drawer.)

"There, is that good?" She pants, tying her dark brown hair up and her younger brother looks at the bed and nods, a smile painting his features.

"Perfect. Thanks Nat, I think Ryan wanted you to help him with Liv's room next." Natalie groans, of course her older brother would need help with the eight year old's room, considering they just painted it the night before and were all sleeping on blow up mattresses in the living room since the moving truck got to the house this morning.

"Good god…I haven't even gotten to my room yet…and put your clothes away right, otherwise you'll look like a scrub tomorrow and no girl will want to go out with you." The twelve-year-old gives an indignant glare before emptying his drawers again and folding his clothes correctly as Natalie travels down the hall to where she can hear her older brother Ryan trying to calm down Olivia, the youngest of all the Garcia kids. The youngest child of course screaming shrilly at the top of her lungs and upon Natalie entering the room, she sees Olivia's face is splotchy and red and tears are streaming down her face.

"Oh thank god, Nat help." The middle child opens her mouth but Olivia just tackles her legs in a hug as Ryan looks helpless at his little sister.

"What's going on?" She asks, petting down Olivia's wild blonde hair as she continues to shed needless tears onto Natalie's yoga pants.

"Ryan doesn't get it!" Olivia screams, and the older brother sighs, "It doesn't work and Kaylee doesn't like it!" Natalie finally understands as she nods.

Olivia's been a special kid for a while, it took her three whole years to use words correctly and be able to form sentences, and when she did, she said her friend Kaylee helped her. And the Speech Therapist had resulted that it was Olivia's imaginary friend, and to not kill the child's imagination otherwise she might revert to silence again.

"Okay, I get it now. Ryan, go help dad with the living room, god knows he can't do it by himself." The older brother lets out a relieved sigh and nods before he vaults over some toy boxes as he tromps down the stairs to help their father arrange the living room. "Now Liv, what did we say about Kaylee taking control of things?" Natalie asks the youngest Garcia child as she crouches down to the eight year old's level.

"To not be a pushover…but I don't like the way Ryan set things either…he doesn't have a woman's touch." It took all Natalie had to not burst into laughter.

"Okay, so show me where you want your stuff." Olivia rubs away the tears on her face and shows her 'Nani' where she wants her bed, desk, dresser, and bookshelf. (The nickname was unfortunately a side effect from one too many reruns of Lilo and Stitch.)

"Alright, how 'bout that Liv?" The blonde grins as their father comes into the room, and claps a hand on both of their shoulders.

"I love it, daddy do you like it?" Their father grins down at the two, his blue eyes twinkling.

"Of course sweetheart, Nat why don't you go eat and work on your room while I help Liv with hers." Natalie sighs in relief.

"Thanks dad, do I need to go get anything for lunches tomorrow?" He shakes his head.

"Nah, I'll just give you all money, it's easier, you can make dinner though, I imagine the hospital's going to keep me late." Natalie nods as she turns to leave.

As she reaches her room, which is nothing but a put together bed and a desk, dresser, and bookshelf hastily shoved against walls and she lets out a disappointed sigh as her phone tells her its 8:45 and she hasn't even unpacked her toiletries or clothes for school tomorrow.

"Awesome…" She breathes, grabbing her desk and pushing it against the eastern wall of her room, shoving her dresser right next to it in the northeastern corner and while her bed is in a corner of the room, she shoves her bookshelf against the western wall and starts unpacking her clothes as quick as she can. She'd at least like to get a good night's sleep before the new semester.

A knocking on her door makes her turn to see Ryan entering her room with a smile.

"Need any help?" She lets out a sigh of relief.

"If you could get my backpack packed that would be awesome and I'll even get you a girlfriend this year." Ryan laughs as he grabs the red and black tartan bag and starts grabbing her binders from on top of the desk and stuffing them in the backpack, along with notebooks and pens and pencils.

"Anything else?" He asks, buckling it shut and setting it on top of the desk, and Natalie nods, handing over a stack of t-shirts.

"Third drawer on my dresser." He laughs and makes the trips, making sure the stacks of different graphic t-shirts and band shirts are even as he slides it shut and does the same with her sweatpants and even with her socks and underwear.

"What would you do without me Nani?" She shrugs as she starts hanging up her jeans, dresses, and dress shirts.

"Crash and burn." Ryan laughs as he starts making her bed and unpacking the alarm clock and nightstand lamp.

"I have no doubts, did your schedule come in the mail?" Natalie nods, going into her backpack and producing the paper with her classes, locker number and combo, and student login information.

"I have English first hour. Only that would happen to me." Ryan laughs as he looks it over and sighs.

"You have a long year ahead of you kiddo." She nods.

"I have no doubts." Ryan then gives her a lock.

"How are you holding up? With the…?" He trails off, snapping his fingers and Natalie copies him, a spark of lightning producing from her fingers, disappearing as quickly as it appeared.

"Its under control Ry, don't worry. We won't be going through another power outage again." Her older brother nods, stuffing her schedule back in her bag.

"Alright, get some sleep Nat. We have a long day tomorrow." She nods hanging up her last bit of clothing and taking her toiletries to the bathroom and showering. As she comes out she switches into a new pair of pajamas and plugging in her phone before falling onto her bed and promptly falling asleep.

* * *

><p>"Nat! What is taking so long? We still have to drop off Liv and Elijah!" Ryan bursts into Natalie's room to find her standing in front of her closet only wearing her black skinnies and converse, a purple lace bra on, and throwing clothes everywhere and a toothbrush hanging from her mouth.<p>

"I fan't 'ind somf'in to wear!" She yells back at him, white toothpaste spraying everywhere on her carpet, making the seventeen year old growl at him before going to her adjoining bathroom and rinsing out before going through her shirts again, another one being thrown over her head before Ryan sighs and goes through the ones she's thrown and picks up her gray Beatles one.

"Here, now finish getting ready, we have to leave in five minutes." She grins at him, throwing on the shirt and grabbing her leather jacket and backpack, not forgetting her headphones or phone for the matter.

"Thanks big brother." He laughs as they tromp down the stairs, Ryan grabbing his coffee mug and lacrosse gear while the two younger siblings are finishing their cereal as Natalie grabs her five bucks for lunch and a cereal bar.

"Has anyone seen my badge?" Their father, Will, asks as he is stomping down the stairs, stethoscope around his neck, briefcase in hand, and tying his tie as Natalie holds it up and every kid points to her.

"She has it." Everyone monotones and his father lets out a relieved sigh as he snatches it from Natalie, kissing everyone's head, Ryan and Elijah groaning in discomfort as Will grabs the keys to his truck and leaves.

"Thanks kids, love you. See you after work!" The kids return the gesture as the door slams shut behind him.

"Kay kiddos, finish up and go brush your teeth, Nat and I will clean up." Elijah and Olivia nod, getting down from the island bar in the kitchen and running upstairs as quick as they can while Ryan makes sure their backpacks are packed and Natalie rinses out the bowls and dumps them in the sink.

"Do you think Liv will ever realize what I did…?" Natalie asks after a few beats of silence and Ryan sighs, looking down into his plastic mug.

"Nat what happened…that wasn't your fault." He answers, and it's the same thing he's been telling her since it happened. It's why dad has to work double shifts sometimes through the weekends, it's why everyone's so scatter brained on weekday mornings and there's no pancakes to wake up to like there used to be.

"But Olivia always says she misses them…and I was the one to cause the power outage…" Ryan sighs and wraps his younger sister in a hug.

"It's not your fault, we've told you that." She nods and the kids come back downstairs, Elijah's hair gelled up like he likes it, Olivia's hair brushed, and remains of toothpaste on the corners of her mouth.

"Missed a spot Liv." Ryan tells her, grabbing a kitchen towel and wiping her mouth, making her smile at him before he hands her, her Hello Kitty backpack and Elijah his generic black and red plaid patterned one before they file out the door. Ryan brings up the rear as they all pile into his old Jeep Cherokee, the ride to Olivia's grade school filled with pop music. Elijah's ride filled with much the same to the middle school, and finally the older two got a break, listening to some much needed My Chemical Romance on the way to Beacon Hills High.

As the two exit the car, Ryan makes his way to the boys locker room while Natalie breaks away, giving her brother a silent pat on the shoulder as she departs and makes her way to Room 118, otherwise known as the English room. Upon entering she sees a good majority of the classroom filed, about half at least and almost all of them are chatting with each other.

_Great. Superb way to start your year Nat…Just pick a seat. _

Sighing, Natalie chooses the closest seat towards the back by the windows and pulls out her English binder and notebook, setting her bag under her desk and pulling out her phone and going straight to Facebook.

_To all those who are starting school with me, may the odds be ever in your favor._

A strawberry blonde sits in front of her and Natalie jumps a little before pulling out a headphone but continuing to scroll through her Facebook wall.

"Is someone…?" She looks up to see a pale brunette with brown eyes talking to a tan kid in a jean jacket, both of which are almost too stunningly attractive to where Natalie thinks she should've at least put mascara or eyeliner on today.

"No, no, no, no, no." He gestures to the seat. "It's all you, all yours. Uh, it's totally vacant." Natalie laughs a little to herself while the tanner kid looks to his neighbor who gives him an ecstatic thumbs up. She concludes they must be best friends.

Then everyone's phones go off, including Natalie's with texts, everyone fishing them out from their pockets or bags.

_The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky, seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness._

As she was reading the text, the teacher came in reading those exact words from her phone until she reached the front of the classroom, cell phone in hand, leaning against her desk.

"This is the last line to the first book we are going to read. It is also the last text you will receive in this class. Phones off everyone." She grins and Natalie grins with her, setting her phone to silent and slipping it in her bag.

So far, this teacher's pretty cool.

After introductions are handed out, the teacher introducing herself as Ms. Blake, she hands out dictionaries and writes some words up on the board, directing everyone to find and translate them since they'd be words in the book and they'd have to write a summary on it once it was done.

Natalie didn't expect any less except after five minutes into the busy work, the principle comes in and whispers something to Ms. Blake, making her nod and turn to the tan kid behind the pretty brunette.

"Mr. McCall?" He looks up, along with a few others in the class along with Natalie, as Ms. Blake waves him up and walks him to the door, but Natalie looks down as she hears the last few words. "Uh, I'm sure it's an emergency if your mother needs you to leave school, but I'm gonna give you a warning in the nicest possible way. I am well aware of your attendance record, I don't want to see you slip back into old habits."

"I won't. It's gonna be different this year." He vows, and Natalie bristles a little at the promise behind the words, it's gotten hard for her to focus on the work now.

"Resolutions are only good if you stick with them, Scott." Ms. Blake reminds him.

"I will. I promise it won't be ephemeral." Natalie furrows her brow as she goes through the dictionary, finding the word easily as Ms. Blake chuckles a little and comes back into class, continuing the list of vocabulary.

_**Ephemeral: adj;  
><strong>__Lasting a very short time; short-lived; transitory._

So he was studying for the PSAT's too huh?

Soon enough another person comes in, but this time looking very much like an attendance runner and hands a bright orange pass to Ms. Blake who nods and thanks the teenager before locking eyes with Natalie.

"Ms. Garcia, I believe this 504 pass is for you." Natalie tenses as several gazes line her way, specifically of a guy with dark hair and hazel eyes who grins at her before going back to his work, Natalie spotting the redness on his ears.

Grinning a little, Natalie gets up and takes the pass, giving Ms. Blake a smile, which she returns.

"I'm sorry, I told my dad not to register me for this." Ms. Blake just smiles at her.

"Not at all Natalie, it's fine. I understand that anxiety can be a very tricky thing, so if you ever need anything just let me know." Natalie nods, casting Ms. Blake a grateful smile as she sits back down, the strawberry blonde in front of her is having a conversation with the guy who smiled at her.

"Prada bit me." She whispers as the boy sits up a little straighter.

"Your dog?" He questions further and if Natalie leaned over a little, she'd see that the girl in front of her had Band-Aid's on her ankles.

"No my designer handbag." After a beat of sarcastic silence Natalie bites her lip to prevent from laughing out loud as she continues to work. "Yes, my dog." The strawberry blonde confirms, rolling her eyes and continuing to work.

"Has it ever bitten you before?" He continues, and at this point Natalie's seriously considering strangling the boy because he's being so distracting.

"Mm-mm." The blonde confirms, shaking her head as she writes.

"Okay. What if it's, like, the same thing as the deer? You know, like, how animals start acting weird right before an earthquake or something?" The blonde stops writing and looks to the boy this time.

"Meaning what?" Natalie really doesn't want to butt in the conversation right now, but it's the first day and she doesn't want to start off poorly.

"Can you two please just…" Natalie murmurs, making them look at her. "Sorry, but it's distracting." The blonde raises a perfectly shaped eyebrow as the boy nods and turns back to his work.

"I don't think I've seen you around here before." The blonde tells her and Natalie shakes her head.

"I'm new." She mumbles, feeling her cheeks heat up from simply butting into a conversation she had no part in the first place.

_God me and my big fat mouth…_

Then something pounds into the window, making almost the entire room jump as everyone turns towards the windows to see a whole flock of birds fly at them, some just bursting into blood and feathers, but soon enough some windows shatter and kids start screaming, Natalie pulls her hands up to cover her face.

Doesn't exactly help that she's scared of birds.

"Get down everyone!" She's pretty sure Ms. Blake screams it as she drops to the ground and crawls under her desk and pulls up her hood as sharp stinging pain rakes across her face and hands.

_Great first day Nat. May the odds be ever in your favor indeed._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I feel like this isn't the best start cause it feels rushed, but I felt like I'd rather just jump into it than write two separate chapters y'know? But ah well, who needs character introductions and development right? (Kidding, kidding...please don't shoot me.)**

**We will delve more into the Garcia family as we go, I promise.**

**And PS, a 504 pass is basically a pass where the student gets out of class whenever he/she feels like the learning environment isn't helping them learn. I have one for my anxiety, I understand now what my teacher meant by me trying to avoid them. But they are required to return to the classroom before it's let out to either collect their homework and belongings, or they have to leave towards the end of the class period. **

**Anyways!**

**Feel free to leave any questions/thoughts/comments in a review.**

**If you want to know when I update this story feel free to follow it.**

**And if you liked this story please feel free to favorite it. **

**I'll see you lot next time. **

**-Alice **


	2. A Little Less Sixteen Candles

**A/N: So this took a little longer than I wanted to to write, simply because while I was writing it, I was reading 'My Immortal'...**

**Don't ever do that. Because then whatever you're writing...it goes to hell pretty quickly. **

**Anyways! Polyvore collections been updated, and I would like to thank everyone who's already followed, favorited, and reviewed this. Means a lot.**

**So onto the review replies and disclaimer.**

**Review Replies:**

**Guest: **Thanks! I hope you like this chapter as well. :)

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing recognized as Teen Wolf material other than my OC's. **

* * *

><p><strong>Natalie<br>**_A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More "Touch Me" – Fall Out Boy_

"_I just don't see why I have to do it mom…" Natalie grumbles, taking the car keys from her mom while she laughs lightly and her older sister Kayla work around the kitchen for Olivia's birthday cake and food._

"_Because Kayla and I are working on the food, Elijah and Ryan are getting her presents, and your father is at work until later today." Her mother answers and Natalia growls lightly under her breath as she looks over at Olivia, happily content with Lilo and Stitch running on the TV for the umpteenth time. "C'mon Natalie, she only turns eight once…" Her mother persuades and the teenager sighs._

"_Alright, fine. I'll take her with." Kayla grins down at her little sister._

"'_Atta girl Nat, hey, I'll give you that surprise later this week if you keep up the good behavior." Natalie rolls her eyes._

"_Yeah right. C'mon Liv, I'm taking you to the fair with me and Kyle." Olivia gasps dramatically and happiness could literally be seen from the child from miles away._

"_Cool! Let me go get my purse!" Natalie laughs as the little blonde dashes up the stairs in her black pants and pink shirt, a tutu hugging her hips as her plastic heels clack against the wood. _

"_She looks so much like dad it isn't even funny." Kayla comments and Natalie has to agree, while almost every child has moms dark hair and eyes, only Ryan and Olivia seemed to have inherited dad's light hair and blue eyes. Except Olivia's eyes are a bit strange and have taken a hazel color. It's weird._

"_Is Ryan even a part of this family though? Like…can we talk about that real quick?" Kayla laughs as Natalie brings up that her older brother doesn't even look like their parents, more like their uncle which Natalie swears he was a Greek god in a past life._

"_I think he's just…too attractive for this family. We should kick him out." Kayla pipes in and Natalie grins._

"_Oh, yes. Please." Their mother smiles as Olivia now tromps down the stairs in her pink converse and tutu free, a pink and green purse slung over her shoulder._

"_Okay, we can go!" She chirps and Natalie shakes her head at her little sister._

"_Okay, we'll see you guys in a little bit." _

* * *

><p>"Nat…C'mon, you have to come out sooner or later." Ryan tells her, and a paramedic is dabbing at her hands and face as best she can, Natalie hasn't removed her hood. Much less crawl out from under the desk.<p>

The classroom's a mess to say the least; desks have been turned over, books everywhere, feathers much the same and a few bird bodies scattered around the room. Cops have showed up, and even a few CDC responders to help clean up the bodies. Rabies was passed around the room in casual conversation.

Natalie just numbly shakes her head and an officer, she thinks he might be the sheriff considering the star on his jacket, walks over to the trio to try and help.

"She's not coming out Sheriff, I don't know if it's just shock or what, but she's not budging." The paramedic tells him, and it feels like Natalie's head is stuffed with cotton and she's just watching everything happen numbly.

"It doesn't really help she's got an extreme fear of birds." Ryan pipes in, and the sheriff looks at him.

"Are you her boyfriend?" Ryan makes a slightly disgusted face.

"No…I'm her brother." The sheriff raises an eyebrow before letting out a sigh and turning towards Natalie.

"Natalie…you have to come out sooner or later." She looks at the sheriff, Stilinski written on a tag on his jacket, and he can see there are scratches on her cheeks and nose.

"Are they gone? The birds…" The sheriff looks around.

"Yeah, Natalie. They're gone." He confirms and holds out a hand to her, which she takes and he helps her to her feet, her knees groaning and cracking in protest as she sits on a desk and lets the paramedic continue cleaning her hands, wrapping them in gauze, seeing as how there aren't really enough Band-Aids to encase them. Ryan plucks a few feathers from her hair as conversations are passed around the room, Natalie spotting the strawberry blonde, the guy with the dark hair, and the other brunette girl treating this as if it was completely normal.

How? Why?

"Ms. Blake? You okay?" Natalie turns to see the boy, the sheriff called him Stiles so that has to be his name, getting off a desk and approaching their teacher who looks just as traumatized as Natalie feels. Soon enough the paramedic leaves the siblings alone, and Natalie watches as Stiles tries to remove a feather from their teacher's hair, smiling in the; 'You're welcome.' Way once he's done so.

"How're you feeling Nat? You want to go home?" The sheriff asks her and Natalie shrugs, the idea doesn't seem so bad.

"I don't know…really. I just…" She mumbles and the sheriff nods, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"I understand, and I wouldn't blame you if you went home. Trust me." And he departs with that, Ryan giving Natalie that comforting gaze as he wraps her in a hug and she lets her hood fall with that.

"C'mon, let's take you home." Natalie nods, grabbing her things and following her brother out to his locker where he grabs the car keys.

"Where's Scott McCall?" Natalie turns to see a dark skinned woman talking to the two girls from her English class. "You're Allison right?" She prompts the brunette, and she nods.

"Yeah, um, Scott left…" She answers and the woman grabs Allison's arm tightly, making her friend jump to the defense.

"Hey, easy on the physicality there sweetheart." She's cut off as the woman grabs her arm too before looking up and locking eyes with Natalie, or maybe it's the twins by Ryan's locker she's not sure, but the woman lets go and leaves with that.

"That was weird…" She mumbles to Ryan who looks at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What did we say about snooping Nani?" She sighs.

"Not to do it…I know." Her brother rolls his eyes as he shuts his locker.

"C'mon, let's get you home."

* * *

><p>"Is she really okay? I mean…she said she was gonna make lasagna tonight…"<p>

"If she doesn't wake up before tomorrow then I'll just order pizza and give you guys leftovers for tomorrow. She's had a rough day Elijah, let her rest."

Somehow the comfort of her brother letting her pass out on the couch doesn't really help when he and Elijah are playing Xbox in front of her with Olivia drawing in her sketchbook on the coffee table.

"Y'know, if you want my lasagna that bad I can make it…" Natalie draws out, sleep evident in her voice and Elijah turns around, Ryan smacking the back of his head for waking her up.

"Please?" He begs, rubbing the sore spot and throwing their older brother a glare.

"Yeah, give me some time to make it. Where's dad?" She asks, yawning as she sits up.

"He's working late tonight, told us to hold down the fort while he's gone. I went grocery shopping while you were out, so we have stuff for lunches tomorrow too." Natalie nods.

"Cool, do you two have any homework?" Elijah shrugs and Olivia shakes her head.

"I have some forms dad needs to sign, so I just stuck them to the fridge." The preteen answers, and Natalie nods.

"Okay, I'll be in the kitchen." She grabs her phone out of her backpack, seeing it's already turned on, she's missed a few texts from their dad.

_Shift went a little later than I wanted to, please feed the kids and please go to bed._

_I heard about what happened at school, you okay? Call me._

_I signed you up for the 504 thing if you need to leave the room at all. We'll meet with your teachers next week and talk out the plan. _

Sighing Natalie plugs in her headphones and starts playing her music as she grabs two pots, one for the noodles and one for the sauce and spotting the defrosted package of ground beef in the sink.

"Thanks Ry…" She mumbles, turning on the stove and dumping two jars of marinara sauce in a pot, opening the package of meat and dropping it in there as well, leaving the mixture sit while she grabs a lasagna pan and the noodles from the cabinet.

As she busies herself in the kitchen, through her headphones she can hear Ryan trying to calm down Elijah and Olivia, who both are yelling at each other in the living room and she hears something about spilled juice.

"Nani!" And there's Olivia, who's running into the kitchen with a soaking wet sketchbook, a bright red stain on it and red drops are falling onto the hardwood floor. "Eli spilled my juice all over my sketchbook!" She holds it up for emphasis as the teenager unplugs her headphones and drops the last lasagna noodle in the boiling water before crouching down and taking the wet notebook in her hands.

"Oh dear…did Eli apologize?" Olivia pouts.

"Yes…" She mumbles, wringing her wet hands into her sweater.

"Okay, so you know he didn't mean to. Besides, you have another one don't you? I'll buy you a new one tomorrow after school." Olivia nods while Natalie throws away the notebook and gets back to making dinner while Olivia runs upstairs for her other notebook and Ryan comes in to grab a towel and some carpet cleaner.

"I don't know how you do it." He tells her and Natalie laughs as she starts layering the dish in the pan, the oven beginning to beep.

"Easily, can you do me a favor and get the block of parmesan from the fridge?" He nods and gets her the white block of cheese while she digs around for the automated shredder, finding it and cutting off blocks and grabbing a bowl, shredding each block quickly and easily, putting the cheese on top of the lasagna and shoving it in the oven, setting the microwave timer for an hour and fifteen minutes.

"Want me to get you when it's done?" Her brother asks and Natalie nods, heading upstairs to her room, stopping by to grab her bag from the living room.

Turns out missing a good majority of the first day left her tons of time to clean up the mess from this morning, which included sorting through the shirts again, putting them in the dresser or hanging them up, and tossing her shoes back into her closet, considering all she had were sneakers or flats. Natalie detested wearing heels, they hurt far too much.

After hunting around in numerous boxes, Natalie managed to find her computer stuff, consisting of her laptop, speakers, and a printer. (Most of which she'd earned from her job at Safeway from their previous home of Boulder Colorado.)

Then it was the everlasting task of putting things up like posters, pictures, putting books on the bookshelf, and breaking down boxes.

"Well lookie here, looks like you've completely moved in." Natalie grins at Ryan as she pauses the music on her laptop. He's leaning against the doorway holding something in his hand, it looks like a letter or something. "So you know how I applied to UCLA over the summer?" Natalie nods, eyeing the envelope in his hand.

"Is that the response letter?" She responds, and Ryan nods, holding it up so she can see the UCLA symbol on the upper left hand corner of the envelope. "Are you gonna open it?" She asks him, setting her phone down on her desk and he sighs.

"After dinner. C'mon, the kids are already eating." Natalie raises an eyebrow.

"And they're not fighting?" Ryan laughs.

"They tend not to when they're stuffing their faces."

Dinner passed in silence, and then both Ryan and Natalie sat in Ryan's room, the walls painted a dull gray, Ryan taking a seat on his bed and Natalie taking the rather comfortable armchair. He's been turning the envelope over in his hands for the past few minutes, obviously nervous before he opens it up and takes out the letter.

"Dear Mr. Garcia,

We are pleased to inform you that with your recent application to the University of California Los Angeles, you have earned a place amongst our ranks.

Orientation will begin August twentieth of the next fall semester and you are expected to be moved into the dorms and settled before then. It is required of freshmen to live in the dorms for at least the first year and to not have vehicles on campus. For those who can afford it, public transportation will be provided. We hope to see you soon."

Once Ryan puts down the letter, Natalie lets out a loud squeal and tackles her brother in a hug.

"My big brother's going to UCLA!"

* * *

><p>The next morning seems kind of dreary, mostly because a somewhat cloudy sky had brought down Natalie's "Start again" mood. For the most part her hands had healed from the bird adventure from yesterday, so now she just had a few Band-Aid's covering her fingers. There really wasn't a need for the gauze anymore.<p>

Now she was just expecting the rain, which hadn't disappointed as she was driving this time from the middle school to the high school, Paramore playing loudly through the speakers as they park and Ryan all but throws himself out of the vehicle, looking a particularly odd shade of green.

"Oh stop being dramatic, I'm not that bad of a driver." Natalie grumbles, hoping out and shutting the door behind her. Once Ryan's got his color back she tosses him the keys and he throws her a dirty look.

"You're never driving my car again." Natalie rolls her eyes before flipping her brother off.

"Whatever, I'll see you at lunch." He says something unintelligible as they part ways once again, this time Ms. Blake's room being much calmer and the still frazzled teacher just had everyone check out Heart of Darkness and read the first few chapters before the bell rang.

Up next was business for Natalie, which she didn't understand why she had it, she never signed up for the class, but whatever.

Needless to say, Natalie was scrolling through her music and pretty much minding her own business when a shoulder bumps into her roughly, almost knocking Natalie off her feet as she stumbles a little.

Looking up she sees the twins that everyone had been ogling yesterday, and she saw what all the other girls did too, they were indeed attractive.

"Sorry, that was my fault." She mumbles, looking back down at her feet, and moving to keep going until a hand drops on her shoulders and she jumps and grabs it, her nerves sending fire through the hand. Almost as immediate as Natalie grabs one of the twins' hand, she drop it upon seeing his eyes turn a vibrant red and a quick look to his hands shows claw-like fingernails.

What? What happened to just the electricity?

Now thoroughly freaked out, she turns tail and makes her way as quickly as possible to her business class, choosing a middle seat and trying to somewhat calm down her ever increasing heart rate. Looking down at the Band-Aid's she notices they're pretty black and she call lightly smell burned fabric.

Spotting some things on the board, she figures she should copy them down, maybe a distraction would help.

Soon after everyone files in and the bell rings, the sound of a textbook slamming on a desk makes her jump with the rest of the class.

"The stock market is based on two principles. What are they?" Natalie looks around, seeing the same McCall kid from her English class raise his hand.

Well she knows this answer too.

Natalie nervously raises her hand as well.

"Yes McCall, you can go to the bathroom." The Coach says, making Natalie lower her hand. "Anybody else?"

"Uh, no, no coach I know the answer." McCall answers, and the Coach lets out a wheezy laugh.

"Oh, you're serious?" He realizes after a minute, and Natalie raises an eyebrow as Scott nods.

"Yes. Risk and reward." Natalie smiles at him and nods.

"Wow! Who are you? And what have you done to McCall? Don't answer that, I like you better." Natalie laughs a little as the Coach walks back up to the front of the room. "Does anyone have a quarter? A quarter." Natalie pats her pocket before hearing the person in the desk behind her rustle around in their pockets, making her turn around to see Stiles pulling a quarter along with something else out of his pocket.

A side of a condom package reading XXL Condom stares up at her, making a grin pull at her features.

"Stilinski I think you uh, dropped this. And congratulations." The Coach says, bending down to pick it up and trade it for Stiles' quarter. Almost everyone's chuckling to themselves as the Coach keeps teaching, Natalie resting her chin on her arms as he goes around the room, going on about risk and reward. Danny doesn't exactly play along so he goes to Scott who chooses not to play.

"Okay. Who's next?" Natalie bites her lip. "Who wants the quarter?" She raises her hand, making the Coach look at her. "And what's your name sweetheart?"

"Natalie." She answers, and the Coach nods with a smile.

"Alright Natalie, you should know it by now. Risk is more work, reward is no work at all." She carefully takes the quarter from his hands, Finstock jumping a little at the heat transferred through the piece of metal as she gets up and walks over to where she saw him standing before and crouches down like he had.

_It can't be that hard, just bounce it the right way and it'll go in. _

So she turns the quarter over in her hand before bouncing it and hearing the satisfying clatter of it landing in the ceramic mug.

"'Atta girl Natalie." She grins, sitting back down in her seat. "Anyone else?" She hears Stiles pound on his books behind her. "There ya go! There's a gamblin' man! Come on! Step up, step up." He hands Stiles the quarter and claps as he hops around the mug and stands where Natalie had before. "Alright, Stilinski."

Natalie jumps at seeing the door open and the same Sheriff from the day before walk into the room.

"Stiles." Apparently that's his father, though the boy's not paying attention.

"Yeah Coach, I got it." He answers, lining up the quarter.

"Stiles." His father says more seriously, and both the Coach and Stiles stand up straight now, and any smile Stiles had tracing his features is now gone. As he leaves the room, Danny gets up and takes the quarter from him, the door slamming shut behind him. It takes him a minute, but soon enough there's the same sound of the quarter hitting the base of the ceramic mug.

"Yes! Reward! Okay, who's next?" The Coach looks around the room. "Greenburg put your hand down, you don't have a chance."

* * *

><p>"You burned someone? Nat, I told you to keep it under wraps!" Ryan hisses at her, and Natalie winces as they sit down at a table to themselves, Natalie picking at the bread that went with the almost inedible meatloaf.<p>

"I tried Ryan, but it's not exactly my fault when a werewolf slams his hand on my shoulder and gives me a freakin' heart attack." Ryan sighs, before freezing and looking at his younger sister.

"What? What'd you say?" Natalie looks up from her lunch.

"I had a heart attack. Sorry, it won't happen again." Ryan shakes his head.

"No, before that. You said werewolf, what makes you think he was one?" He asks, gesturing wildly around the two of them.

"Well, his eyes turned red, and he had claws when I grabbed his hand." Ryan nods.

"I think we need to talk to dad." He tells her and Natalie shakes her head.

"No Ryan, we can't. He's still not over…the thing." Ryan sighs.

"Well then we need someone who can help us." Natalie looks down at her hands and jumps when someone drops in the seat next to her.

"Ryan, you didn't tell me your little sister was hot." Natalie rolls her eyes at one of Ryan's already made friends wraps an arm around her shoulders and she shrugs him off.

"Because I knew you'd react like that." The older Garcia grumbles and the friend shrugs as a few other people surround them. "Natalie, the douche canoe that just touched is called Dylan, he's a junior like you." Natalie nods at the guy, he's got dark hair and tanned skin obviously from too much sun over the summer. His bright blue eyes twinkle as he winks at and bites off a chunk of his sandwich.

"Dude, did you catch the football game last night? It was so close." Ryan shakes his head.

"I don't watch football." He answers, and Natalie leans back in her chair, plugging in a headphone, and listening to her music while looking around the lunchroom.

She tenses though when she spots Scott staring at her from the table behind Ryan, raising an eyebrow at her, Stiles chattering away aimlessly and not paying attention to him.

_He knows you're not normal Nat. Better be careful._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Such dramas! Okay, not much to say down here, so I'll leave you to your normal activities. **

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**See you guys next time.**

**-Alice**


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